Experimental determination of permeability in the presence of hydrates and its effect on the dissociation characteristics of gas hydrates in porous media

Although there are many uncertainties in hydrate dissociation process in porous media, numerical simulation gives useful information in evaluating economically feasible gas recovery processes from gas hydrate reservoirs. Furthermore, there are several unknown parameters involved in the numerical model and determination of accurate values of these parameters is essential for reliable production forecasts. One of these parameters is the variation of permeability of the porous media in the presence of hydrates. In this study the permeability to gas was experimentally determined at varying hydrate saturations in a porous medium made of packed glass beads. By comparing the experimentally determined permeability with those calculated using the empirical permeability correlations it was found that for initial water saturations less than 35%, hydrate tends to form on the grain surfaces. However, for initial water saturations greater than 35%, the experimental results indicate a pore filling tendency of hydrate formation. The experimental permeability values were also correlated with the Masuda et al.'s (1997) permeability model and a value of 3.0 was obtained for the permeability reduction exponent. To evaluate the impact of permeability reduction exponent on the dissociation process, a one-dimensional numerical model was developed for dissociation of gas hydrates in porous media by depressurization. The numerical model includes the three mechanisms i.e. kinetics of hydrate decomposition, heat transfer and fluid flow; that might be associated with the dissociation of hydrates in porous medium. The effect of permeability reduction exponent on the dissociation characteristics of hydrate was analyzed using this simulator.